Liverpool: Mohamed Salah scored a hat-trick, including two penalties as defending champions Liverpool won a seven-goal thriller with hugely impressive Leeds United at Anfield with the Egyptian grabbing the win from the spot in the 88th minute of a 4-3 victory.
It was a match between two sides who had to prove themselves for different reasons. The Reds wanted to keep their reputation and dominance alive while Leeds United, on the other hand, came back to the English top-flight after 16 years and wanted to bring back their glory days.
Mohammed Salah opened the scoring after Liverpool was awarded a penalty on the fourth minute of the game. He scored and in doing so became the first footballer to score on the opening day of EPL for four continuous seasons breaking Teddy Sheringham’s three-season record.
Down by a goal early, Leeds didn’t lose hope and came back in the match with a 12th-minute equaliser from Jack Harrison. Liverpool took the lead again in the 20th minute through a Virgil van Dijk scored a header from an Andy Robertson corner. Leeds hit back again with a Patrick Bamford 30th minute equaliser before Salah made it 3-2 three minutes later.
But Leeds were not here to give up easily making it 3-3 in on the hour-mark with a Mateusz Klich strike. Just as it looked like Leeds would snatch a point, their 30 million dollars Spanish forward Rodrigo fouled Fabinho in the 88th minute for the referee to award a second penalty of the match. Salah converted from the spot to complete his hat-trick
Thus a happy ending for the Champions as they won in their first home game. One thing for sure Leeds should be taken seriously by the big names or else they have the caliber and the firepower to cause an upset this year in the Premier League.
On the other hand, Arsenal kicked off their season with a 3-0 victory over Fulham with goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Gabriel and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Crystal Palace won their first game of the new season over Southampton 1-0. Wilfred Zaha scored for Palace.
